This is my first RR here on ST and to be honest I am just damn happy to be able to write one!
As the title says this is the first race I have done in over three years following and broken ankle which resulted in 2 surgeries and a hell of a long recovery. The race was the River City Tri in Logansport, IN. By no means a big tri but a fun one and overall a great course. And more importantly for a me a chance to kick the horse that bucked me off in the nuts before I got back on it. I did this race in 2004, and while I had ankle issues coming in, Logansport is the place where I pushed it a bit to far and sent myself into 3 years of recovery and getting fat. So returning to Tri and more importantly coming back to the place where all hell broke loose the last time I was here was a big thing for me personally.
I know all of the IM’ers and HIM’ers think sprints are for sissies, but for me with my job and three small kids at home they are all I have time to train for. Coming into the race I had less than 200 miles on the bike and have only been able to swim 1-2 times a month due to a tear in my left shoulder (yup more surgery on the horizon). The one thing I have been able to train as much as my ankle will let me is running. I have been very good about running as much as I can on a slow and steady program to build up strength in my legs again after over 2 years with 0 running. While I do not consider myself a runner ( I am a swimmer) let alone fast, I have improved a ton over the last 8 months or so. Overall based on my training and health I had very low expectations coming in. They were finish without breaking anything else and have fun.
Swim- 500 Yards ( I think it was close to 550-575 based on my time)
I was not able to warm up except for the 5 minutes after the first heat went and when my heat went. As a result because of my shoulder issues I decided no to push the swim to hard. Because of the lack of warm up and the fact it was about 48 degrees ait temp (I did not want to be chilled getting on the bike in that temp) I went with the wet suit. At the start I kicked hard for about 30 seconds to get separation from the field, and got 10 yards pretty easy then settled in. The water was clear, very clear for a Indiana lake and smooth as glass. The course was a modified U at about 200+ yards out 100+ over and 200+ back. I had a very hard time seeing the first buoy which was nothing more than a orange ball about 18” in diameter- it needed to be much bigger. I ended up swimming about 30-50 yards inside before I could really see it. So I zagged out to the to the first buoy and madeit to the next buoy no problem then straight back to the beach. I passed close to 20-30 people along the way from the previous heat. I was at on the beach in a about 6:30 and what looked like about 75-100 yards ahead of the next guy in my heat. No shoulder pain and in the lead and feeling good.
T1- in summary it sucked bad. It was obvious I had raced in 3 years or practiced. I could not get my wet suit off to save my life. Once I did I got the helmet on and glasses grabbed the bike and started to run out of trans when my first shoe came flying off the bike because it hit the ground weird as the crank spun around. I went and recovered it and put it on. Ran out of trans mounted and tried putting my other foot in the shoe still on the peddal and that show came off. So I got off the bike and run back to my shoe put it on remount and off I go. I easily spent 2-3 minutes in T1. What is amazing is that no one passed me, which I guess means my swim was pretty strong. Had I been a spectator watching me coming out of T1 I would have been laughing the amazing display of grace and athleticism- it was really sad.
Bike 14.5 Miles
The course was a bit hilly for central Indiana with one hill that got me up to 42mph on the way down. The roads we in sad shape with a ton of bumps and pot holes to avoid. There are also a number of greater than 90 degree turns as the road weaved along the Tippecanoe river. I averaged a shade under 22 mph which considering how much I have been on the bike over the last 3 years and only about 200 miles in the last 2-3 months I cannot complain at all.
T2- Yup I still suck. I had the shoes loosened rolling up to the trans area. When I tried to take my foot out of course my shoe came flying off. At least it went forward into the trans area. I ran over to pick it up AGAIN, racked my bike and put my shoes and race number on without problem. Still not a fast trans at all.
Run- 3.4 Miles almost all trail.
I told myself coming that I would take it easy on the run. I would not push and would slow down for all the down hills and bad footing areas on the trail. And I really felt like I did. I still ended up with by far the best run I have ever had in a Tri. The course had a lot small ups and downs with a few very steep longer hills. Footing over all was good, but there were few spots where I really slowed down to dodge roots and rocks- no need for a repeat from 2004. My split was around 22:45 (not a chip timed event) which works out to sub 7 min miles on a somewhat difficult run course (by my standards at least)- A first for me ever!!! Yahoo!!! Also for the first time ever I actually passed people on the run, not just one guy but four, of course I had 2 pass me- but that is the norm. I can’t say enough how excited I am bout my run, it give me hope that one day I may actually be able to run like some of the gazelles that win these things.
Overall I was 1:12:18 for 3rd in my 35-39 age group and I think about 10th overall, results have not been posted yet the winning time was 1:07:XX. This was far better than I thought I would do for my first race back. I figure a little practice on transition and that easily could have been under 1:10:00. So now I am back on the crack of Tri, I am hooked again and can not stop thinking about last Saturday and my next race on Sunday ( a swim heavy sprint at ½ mile swim 12.5 bike , 3.1 run). It feels GREAT to be back in the game!
